Inherit the Wind: Rachel
by reniRCx
Summary: Rachel POV fic based off of Inherit the Wind. Written in part as an English assignment, but it's technically fanfiction. Spoilers for the play, I own nothing.


"Dear Father," I mumbled to myself almost bitterly while inscribing the words in elegant script on the tauntingly blank paper in front of me.

_Dear Father,_

From there, I had to put down the pen. What I wanted to say to the man who had raised me, taught me, and landed Bert in jail, was buzzing around in my head, but I couldn't make myself write it.

_I hate you for preaching against Bert so the whole town hates him. _

_I hate Bert for putting this rift between this. _

_I hate you for forcing me to choose _your_ side. _

_I hate Bert for forcing me not to choose anything. _

_And I love you both. _

As was the destiny of most emotional outbreaks on this scale, the heavy paper was forcibly folded and thrown into the wastebasket.

I had to see Bert _now. _

Dear Father,

I hate Bert's ideas. I hate how Bert refuses to stand down, admit he committed a wrong. The townspeople would forget, sooner or later. But now it's so out of hand! Bert read his students a chapter from a textbook- he read to me the same thing. I found some of the information offensive, but I'm used to some of Bert's eccentric ways and simply told him my thoughts on the subject and forgot about the incident- until he was arrested.

I still believe in you. I believe in God and the Bible and Genesis and religion. I love Bert. I love him no matter what dogma he believes. But now he's in jail, and I don't know what I want anymore. It was always easy, when we didn't talk about it- the atheist, and the daughter of a reverend. I just don't know what to do. What if I'm asked to speak out against Bert, or for him? The latter would alienate me just as much as him, make me betray _you_, but I could never live with the guilt of doing the former.

Bert isn't a bad person. If I believe one thing he has taught me, it's that being a good Christian isn't all there is to being a good person. Maybe you're a bad person, or I am. God might say I was a bad person for even listening to Bert's ideas.

I don't know what to think anymore. But I want to let you know that I love you. No matter how this trial turns out, no matter what I have to say, you are my family and I love you. And, just in case you hate me after this trial is done, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for loving Bert. I'm sorry it's so hard for me to trust you, to listen to you. I love you, and I'm sorry.

Rachel

Almost as if someone else's hands were doing it, this letter too was crumpled and thrown away.

I came home the day of my confession with a mission. Yes, it was a confession. I had confessed Bert's sins.

_He who troubleth is own house shall inherit the wind, _I thought, hearing not Brady's voice in my head, but my father's. He had explained this phrase of the Bible to me when I was very small- how I was his house and he mine, how the "wind" really meant being unloved.

He was probably lying.

If I was going to hell anyway, I might as well go farther.

Bert had given me the Darwin book a few months ago, assuring me that it wasn't meant as a condescending gesture. I had smiled, thanked him, and never once picked it up.

Now I did. It took me a good ten minutes to find the book, but once I did, I sat down and opened it to chapter one. The science confused me, and the ideas presented repulsed me.

But for some reason, I couldn't put it down.

Dear Father,

I might as well tell you this, since I probably won't see you for a long time.

I read the book that this whole trial was about. Charles Darwin's _Origin of Species. _I suppose you will tell me that even picking the volume up is a sin, but I won't believe you. I read a book, just as Bert did. I wouldn't question if you called it a sin to believe it, but it is not a sin to understand.

"He who troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind," as you explained to me when I was very small and Matthew Harrison Brady quoted to you mere weeks ago. I suppose the trouble I committed was to take Bert's side, to an extent, in the trial. But then, as Brady said, your trouble to me was when you spoke out against me at the prayer meeting- and the wind I gave to you was leaving on that train.

I've made my choice, Father, and I've chosen Bert. I haven't chosen evolution over the church, but I've chosen his love over your hatred.

I love you. You're my father, my house, and I love you and always will. But this is goodbye.

Rachel

The words bad poured out of me like water, and I found myself breathing hard after putting down the pen. I had already addressed the envelope. This letter, I was going to send. This final letter, he was going to read.


End file.
